your soul is where I made my home
by Door Is Ajar
Summary: Despite the support that Yuzu has from her parents and closest friends regarding her relationship with Mei, there are some people who have not come around—but Yuzu has a way of worming her way into people's hearts. (In which Yuzu manages to make everyone fall in love with their relationship without even trying.)
1. you've got stars in your eyes

**Note:** For clarification, Kana and Manami are Yuzu's two older friends who are seen in chapters 1 and 23. Kana had the longer, dark hair; and Manami had the shorter, lighter hair. Chapter 23 in particular is important in regards to understanding this chapter. :)

* * *

"Kana just broke up with him last week."

"But you two were together for nearly a year!" Yuzu exclaimed, hands slapping the table in exasperation. The drinks on the table rattled at the dramatic display, but all three girls ignored it in place for their gossip.

"I'm honestly not that upset about it," Kana placated. "I was overlooking all of his flaws. Not intentionally, but I loved him, so I always tried to see the best in him."

"Kana..."

"It's okay, really. Once Manami pointed it out to me, I realized I was better without him."

Yuzu leaned forward to take a sip of her drink (fumbling a bit, as it had rattled an inch or so out of her reach from where she had originally left it) and nodded, not necessarily in agreeance, but in show that she was following along.

"There is actually this really sweet guy who likes Kana," Manami continued. "He didn't say anything before because Kana was in a relationship, but now— _Yuzu is that a wedding ring?!"_

And like that, Yuzu choked on her drink, coughing and gagging and pounding at her chest—meanwhile her two friends pulled her hand closer to peer at the band on her finger, entirely undeterred by Yuzu's racket and subsequent suffocation.

"Oh my gosh, why didn't you tell us?!" Kana exclaimed.

The two girls kept prodding at her hand, turning her palm up and down, raising it and spreading Yuzu's fingers apart—anything to see the ring better without taking it off or actually touching it.

"W-Well, we're _engaged,_ but the wedding isn't even planned yet," Yuzu explained, and she fumbled about the table with her free hand for a napkin to wipe her mouth of the liquidy mess she had made.

"But you're _that_ serious?" Kana asked. She finally pried her eyes from the ring to meet Yuzu's gaze.

Yuzu, however, refused to meet hers. Eyes glued on the ring, her voice took on a sweeter, more sincere tone. "I've never been more serious about anything before."

 _"Wow..."_ Manami sighed.

"When can we meet him?"

Instantly, Yuzu froze. Her hands clenched after a full beat of absolute nothingness, fingers slowly curling into a fist; and with Manami still trying to get a better look at the ring, the dopey, lovey-dovey air that had clouded her eyes was replaced with something a little thicker and uncertain at the action.

"I-I don't know."

"Come on, let's plan something then!" Kana urged. "I want to meet him before the wedding, at least."

"Yuzu..?" Manami interrupted. Yuzu pulled back her hands together and began rubbing, gently, the ring in between her pointer finger and thumb.

 _"Ah,_ I don't think that's a good idea." Yuzu laughed, but it was clearly forced. ( _Last_ time the staged laughter had worked, so there was no reason it shouldn't have worked this time, as well.)

"What? Why not?"

"I, um... T-That just doesn't seem like a good idea..." Yuzu stuttered.

Kana made some kind of irritated sound, something between a terse sigh and a groan of frustration. She leaned back in her seat, and the furrow to her brows alluded to her irritation and doubt. "Are you sure you really love this—"

"Yes!" Yuzu shouted, and both Kana and Manami recoiled at the abruptly overwhelming fire in her voice. "I love her more than anything in the world!"

She paused; a beat, then two.

And all at once, Yuzu's face paled, whiter than a sheet.

She'd let it slip.

That her _fiancée,_ her soon-to-be _wife..._

They weren't... They weren't supposed to _know,_ but this whole thing had come up so suddenly, and there had been no time to prepare. She didn't have any per-conceived excuses or some fabricated story written up (and if she were honest, she probably wouldn't have been able to go through with a lie like that anyway because she loved Mei way too much to _purposefully_ hide it.)

Her eyes sickeningly slowly dropped to the table. She couldn't face their disgust again. Once was enough, _more_ than enough. They had made her question her love for Mei. And the thought alone, that she had been convinced—if only for a _second_ —that she shouldn't be in love with Mei, made her nauseated.

Yuzu reached for her phone on the table and shoved it fitfully into her purse.

Her hands shook, and her fingers prattled restlessly with the zipper to get it back closed.

Neither of her friends were saying anything, and the silence was more suffocating than the orange cream soda she had choked on not five minutes earlier.

It shouldn't have mattered. Mei was her everything, and _nothing_ would make her doubt that again. She was losing two friends in the process, though; and regardless of the reason, it still _stung._ And it stung that she knew she wasn't accepted—that _Mei_ wasn't accepted.

Her eyes prickled something bitter and warm. She tried to ignore the way her voice cracked when she spoke.

"E-Excuse me, I need to go."

Yuzu pulled out her chair, and she could vaguely feel her legs wobble beneath her. She would look like a complete fool if she went to stand and collapsed on herself, but what else was she supposed to do? She was done here; _they_ were done with _her._

Tears swam in her eyes, and she needed to blink to clear her vision, but suddenly something was holding her wrist in place.

 _"Yuzu, wait!"_

Yuzu grit her teeth, squinting her eyes shut to try and contain the stupid tears.

"Wait. Please." This time, Manami's voice was soft. It was... soft, and pained. "We... We said some nasty things the last time we hung out, didn't we?"

And it was in Yuzu's nature to want to console her friends, to alleviate the guilt _("Of course not! Don't worry about it!"),_ but she _couldn't._ Their comments made her doubt her love for Mei, and something of a sob wrangled past her lips before she could manage to cover her mouth.

She nodded, and the grip on her wrist tightened.

A second chair was yanked back, its metal feet scraping angrily against the cobbled ground, and Yuzu flinched at the sound.

 _"We support you!"_

Her head jerked up towards Kana. Her hands were planted into the table to lean across towards Yuzu; and her cheeks were flushed a dark red, although whether from embarrassment or her sudden burst of vigor, Yuzu didn't know.

"W-What?" Yuzu muttered, a hiccup punctuating her question.

"You're our friend, Yuzu. We said some lousy things before, and we're sorry." Kana looked down at Manami, who nodded eagerly in agreement. "We... We can't make that up to you, but we support you now—however we can. You're important to us."

"If you plan on marrying her, she must be amazing, Yuzu," Manami added in, and her voice held that same lovey-dovey air from earlier.

And suddenly, Yuzu's eyes were alight—by hearts or stars: one of the two, Kana and Manami decided.

"She is! Mei is wonderful!"

If it weren't for the tear tracks staining her cheeks, neither girl would have ever guessed that their blonde friend had just been crying.

"She's incredibly smart and hardworking. Her dedication to her family is unlike anything I've ever seen, and I respect her so much for it. She..."

Without so much of a precursor, Yuzu's speech slowed down as she became entirely lost in her own thoughts. She wasn't even looking at her two friends any longer, and her lips were turning up, slowly, hesitantly at first as she became more confident in voicing all of this (but who was she kidding, when it came to Mei, it didn't take long for her mind to take off on that one-way track, and it was near impossible to derail it once that engine got to rolling). It took but a handful of seconds before a smile had overtaken her face. It was, without a doubt in their minds, the brightest they had ever seen Yuzu—and honestly? If they hadn't been preoccupied with this whole new revelation, they would have questioned if Yuzu had ever truly been in love before because this? Her face? It was absolute bliss, if bliss could be personified.

"She's gorgeous, and it's hard to get through her tough exterior, but it's so rewarding to see all her other sides. Her face softens when she gets happy, and her laugh is the sweetest sound in the world. She talks in her sleep, especially when she's tired, and it's the cutest thing ever. Maybe even cuter than the way she blushes when she's embarrassed. She acts like she doesn't like hugs, which is also cute, but she loves them, and I love them, too, so it's a... a, _ergh..."_

Her eyes met Manami's own: wide and bright and focused entirely, solely, _completely_ on her.

Yuzu's face flushed red, a deep, _deep_ red, but her eyes darted between her two friends, desperate for one of them to break the silence, but they were _both_ just _staring_ at her.

Manami was the one to finally do the honor.

"I totally get what you meant last time..." She mumbled. Yuzu fixated on her, and she was surprised to find stars lighting her short-haired friend's eyes.

"What?" Kana asked, turning to her brunette friend. There, too, within her eyes, were stars.

"You know! The two girls were acting like they were in their own world, kissing and hugging and all that, and Yuzu had said that they just might really be _that_ in love with each other."

"Oh my gosh..." Kana whispered, and she slumped back down into her seat. "Yuzu, that's how _you_ are..."

"Yuzu's got it _baaaaaad."_

Yuzu couldn't deny it. She did have it bad; but she wouldn't have it any other way. Mei was her whole world, and she was head over heels over head over heels over—over and over again in love with her.

And she would get to spend the rest of her life with Mei. (Her heart skipped a beat then and there at the thought.)

So what if she was obsessed with her single greatest source of happiness?

"So..." Kana began, a renewed vigor in her voice. "When can we meet _her?"_

Yuzu blinked.

This... hadn't been how she had expected this to go.

She had imagined, on a few short occasions, how it would have played out, had Kana and Manami discovered her relationship with Mei. Every time, the scenario ended with her having two fewer friends, always in tears and always with that sickeningly deep, nauseated churning in her stomach in reminder of her momentary doubt.

The prospect of them supporting her, and now them wanting to _meet_ Mei...

All of this resolved by a simple slip of the tongue...

Yuzu laughed. She dragged a hand back up to to cover her face because there were tears falling reignited on top of the bubbles of joy and relief that were pushing past her lips.

"Yuzu..?" Kana spoke, tentatively. "Did we say something wrong?"

And Yuzu shook her head, pushing the words out over her embarrassing blubbering mess. "N-No, I'm-I'm _relieved."_

There was a pause, and Kana and Manami exchanged a look between one another.

With her elbow propped up against the table, Kana rested her chin within the palm of her hand. "She's really special, isn't she?" Her tone was warm and gentle, and Yuzu nodded into her hands.

"She's... She's more than special," Yuzu gushed, a light dusting of pink coloring her cheeks. "I want to make her happy. Forever."

Yuzu's mind was already dropping off into that endless realm of _Mei,_ and she jumped in her seat to the sudden sound of her phone's ringtone blaring from her purse.

She fumbled to collect the device, and her finger was poised over the _"Decline"_ button, intent on continuing the conversation with her two friends when she noticed who was actually calling her.

Yuzu's head shot up towards the two, a look between sheepish and frantic etched on her features. "I need to take this."

Kana laughed lightly, "No problem," while Manami waved her hand to dismiss the concern entirely.

"Thanks," Yuzu whispered, just as she accepted the call.

"Hello?"

A pause, as presumably the person on the other side spoke.

"Hey, Mei!"

And instantly, both Kana and Manami were leaning forward, attention riled and rooted on their blonde friend.

"What? No, no, don't worry about it! I'll be home in time to cook dinner!"

 _"So cute..."_ Manami whispered.

"If we need groceries, then I'll stop by the store before I come home."

A pause.

Yuzu gasped, clutching the phone closer to her ear.

"Mm-mm, that's no problem at all! I'll meet you at the train station in thirty minutes then and we can go together?"

 _"Agreed,"_ Kana replied.

There was another pause, this one a bit longer than the others, and then, the warmest, most gentle smile imaginable bloomed across Yuzu's cheeks. "I love you, too, Mei. See you soon."

Yuzu pulled the phone from her ear and stared at the screen, waiting for Mei to end the call. A handful of seconds passed before the _"Call Ended"_ note displayed itself on her screen.

With a small sigh, she replace her phone in her purse—and then returned her attention to Kana and Manami, both who had just watched the entire exchange.

"Yuzu," Kana started. She leaned closer and clasped a hand over Yuzu's, right atop the cell phone where Mei's name was still displayed. "That was literally the sweetest thing ever."

Manami leaned forward herself, an awestruck look to her face. "Can we walk with you to the train station?!"

 _"Eh?!"_

"I promise, we won't intrude on your time to shop together! But I want to meet Mei!"

Kana gasped, and her grip tightened in excitement. "Can we?!"

"I... I guess?" Yuzu relented, and Kana and Manami promptly shrieked.

They began collecting their stuff from the table, rushing to their feet to make their way to the train station; and Yuzu couldn't tell which was better: the gigantic weight that had just been lifted off her chest, or the wonderful swell of joy taking that weight's place.

And when Mei finally walked up, exactly thirty minutes after the phone call had ended, introductions were exceptionally short because they were _far_ more excited to gush about the couple. And when Kana and Manami started _pouring_ out compliments like there was no tomorrow, about Mei's beauty and how adorable Yuzu was ( _especially_ when she herself started gushing about Mei) and how lucky the two of them were to be together, well, Yuzu struggled between rampant embarrassment and the incessant need to agree to every single wonderful thing they said about Mei.

She settled on silently sidling up to her _fiancée,_ slipping her hand within Mei's own and squeezing. She offered up a gentle smile, and, like she expected, her heart all but burst when Mei returned a soft smile of her own.

Yuzu did not, however, expect either Kana or Manami to be attentive enough to notice the small exchange (not with how engrossed they were with their incessant and unending praise).

That rampant embarrassment took hold as the two girls cooed and shrieked over how adorable the two were together.

And Yuzu honestly didn't know how she lucked out with these two, even with the blush furiously painting her face. (It was more than worth it to see that same blush capture every square inch of Mei's own adorably embarrassed face).

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Thank you for reading my fic!

This will be a small collection of one-shots that all revolve around the same premise: Yuzu (unintentionally) having everyone come to love her relationship with Mei. The second chapter is about 99% complete and should be posted in two week. After that, I hope to update the next chapter more quickly!

As for this chapter in particular, how I characterized Kana and Manami was influenced by the bonus Wedding Invitation. How Manami was looking at Mitsuko was _quite_ influential, lmbo.

Anyway, I hope that you have enjoyed reading! :)


	2. passion is crashing as we speak

It was the sound of unfamiliar laughter that stalled his feet and suspended his hand an inch from the door handle.

The door to his office was cracked. Just barely.

As chairman to the Aihara Academy, it was not in him to snoop and pry; but the sound of his granddaughter's voice compelled him to silence himself, slow his breathing and tread closer to the door to peer inside.

And instantly, a scowl overtook his face. His eyes narrowed, and his jaw tightened.

Seated together, in the very chair he had occupied for years as head of the academy, were his granddaughter and that... _girl._

He supposed the sight was not worthy of the way it made his blood pressure rise. They were merely sitting there, Mei reading and signing documents while Yuzu peered over her shoulder, rather attentively, he had to admit.

But then Yuzu said something, nothing more than a whisper and far too low for the Chairman to hear. And then—and _then—_

He felt a blood vessel burst, right as Yuzu's lips made contact with his granddaughter's cheek.

He clamped his jaw shut, tighter, _tighter,_ until something ugly popped within the confines of his skull. He was one breath away from barging into the office. His hands had balled into fists, and if he tightened the grip any further, he was bound to break skin and draw blood.

But he watched, as Mei set down her pen, and whatever she said next was drowned out by some combination between the angry blood roaring in his ears and the low tone with which she spoke. Her eyes never left the papers, but then all at once, Yuzu was opening her arms and collecting Mei into a hug.

She tightened the hold, pulling Mei closer and closer before relaxing the embrace with an exaggerated sigh.

At this point, he was _well_ beyond that one breath, but something still held him back. Maybe it was because Mei _let_ it all happen, or maybe it was the way that, after an initial moment of surprise, Mei returned the hug, lifting her arms around Yuzu's back.

Or maybe, maybe it was the way that Yuzu spoke next, something of an absolute whisper into Mei's ear, words meant for his granddaughter alone, and how her fingers ghosted along Mei's back, up and down along her spine and across her shoulder blades. It was all so... so intimate, in a way he couldn't quite explain.

He jolted to laughter—because it was not the _blonde_ one who laughed this time, but his own granddaughter.

It was soft and light, nothing longer than an exhale, but it was a blissful, honeyed sound that left his heart skipping a beat in some constricting emotion he couldn't give a name to.

Mei moved slowly, not out of hesitation, but as though she simply couldn't bring herself to truly agitate and break the moment. She buried her face into the side of Yuzu's neck where she could not be seen and, with a deep, weary sigh, melted into the older girl.

He... could not recall the last time he had heard laughter part from Mei's lips.

The Chairman swallowed thickly.

"You're tired," Yuzu mumbled.

Mei sighed once more, and she sprayed her fingers out along Yuzu's back. She did not give any verbal response, at least that he could hear.

For the six months that Mei had come to live with him, those six months she had been separated from Yuzu and from a woman who treated her as her own child and from an apartment that felt like an actual home—for those six months, Mei had been nothing but a—a shell of a person. Had she ever truly been more than that, prior to first living with those... new additions to the family?

And that, he had not even realized, not until _after_ she had once again returned to that apartment and away from him.

His granddaughter had worked—and worked and worked, tirelessly, often until she fell asleep with a pen between her fingers and a pile of papers secured under her deadened hand.

He _thought_ she had pushed herself for the great pride she had in the Aihara family. After all, she had been the one to turn to him; _she_ had been the one to demand the dramatic uptake in work; _she_ had been the one to push the wedding forward.

How poorly he had understood his granddaughter.

How utterly _wrong_ he had been about her intentions.

It had been out of some twisted sense of obligation—an obligation that would have chained her to some odd concept of Aihara pride for the rest of her life, drowned her in misery and expected her to live with it.

Had she been allowed to go through with the marriage to Udagawa, how would she have been now?

That, was a puzzling and uncertain thought, indeed.

Mei rather unwillingly pulled away from the hug, and he focused in on her face and realized, for the first time, that she looked just as exhausted as she had sounded.

But even now, under the throes of that exhaustion, she looked more alive than she had all six months that she had lived in his house.

His mind screeched to a halt, come up upon on a sudden dry rut of _nothing_ as Yuzu grasped at her shoulders, face flushed a bright red.

"Mei," Yuzu spoke, and she leaned in, her intention glaringly clear:

 _Kiss her._

She was less than an inch from his granddaughter's lips when Mei planted her palm against Yuzu's face, squishing her cheek and pushing her back.

"One moment," Mei commanded.

Yuzu made some kind of odd throat groan but froze nonetheless, eyes shut and lips puckered.

Mei leaned across the desk, reaching for a picture frame.

He knew the photo within that frame very well: It was one of the three of them—Mei, his son, and the Chairman himself—and it was the only remnant of his family that he had allowed beyond the office doors.

And Mei was laying it face-down against the wooden mahogany of the desk.

Once she situated herself back in the chair, she took an extra moment, threading a loose band of hair behind her ear and drawing the cuffs of her sleeves further over the palms of her hands (both likely nervous ticks and things that he had never noticed about her); and then, _gently,_ she grabbed at the collar of Yuzu's uniform. She tugged the girl closer, closer, and Yuzu willingly, happily, obliged, up until their lips met.

 _Oh,_ how would Mei feel, to know her grandfather—not merely a photo of him, but the _real_ him—watched her kiss that girl.

The roaring was back in his ears. His toes dug into the tips of his shoes, and the tips of his shoes dug into the carpeted floor. It was the only thing keeping him from throwing open the door and dislodging that vile wench from his granddaughter.

But when they broke, when they released the kiss and pulled apart...

Mei was smiling.

She was smiling, something fragile and tender and _warm,_ and there was a light blush illuminating her cheeks in the most childishly innocent of ways, and her eyes were half-lidded as though she were trapped in a sort of blissful contentedness.

Never mind laughing. When was the last time he had seen his granddaughter smile?

And when Yuzu rested her forehead against Mei's, and when she whispered, "I love you," to his granddaughter...

Mei returned those very same three words.

Her eyes slid fully shut, as though to relish in the contact.

"You need to go home and sleep," Yuzu commented. Her eyes traced the features of Mei's face, and her hand came up to smooth out the collar of Mei's uniform from where it had uncharacteristically popped up.

There was a moment of hesitation, and then Mei sighed and reluctantly broke the contact.

"Not yet," she began and picked up her pen from where she had left it beside her current stack of documents. "There are still quite a few forms I need to fill out."

Yuzu pouted and folded her arms across her chest. But then, as though a light bulb had gone of in her head: "If we leave now, we can stop by the grocery store and get whatever you want for dinner."

Mei scribbled something at the bottom of her current document. "I will be happy with anything you make, Yuzu."

A beat, then two, then three—and then Yuzu's face colored red, and she collapsed against the back of the chair, muffling a whine of joyful embarrassment into her hands.

"You are free to go home if you would like," Mei continued.

She flipped to the next sheet, just as Yuzu shot up. "No way! I like spending time with you, even if it's in this stuffy old office."

There was a pause, and the Chairman dared to step closer, strangely fearful to miss what Mei would next say.

She stilled her writing, but she did not look over at Yuzu. "...I like spending time with you, also."

Considering how Yuzu had reacted to the last semi-sweet thing Mei had said, he had expected her to blush scarlet once more. But instead, she sat in silence, seemingly mesmerized at the confession. Her lips sat parted as Mei continued working.

It took a bit of a delay and a handful of blinks to clear the cloudy buzz of delight swirling around her mind, but Yuzu finally wrangled words out.

"Mei?"

"Yes, Yuzu?"

"Can we go on a date this weekend?"

"...I do not see why not, as long as you are caught up on your studying."

"What you don't know is I'm already ahead of the game, Mei!"

"Then I see no reason why we can't."

He _thought_ he had come to know his granddaughter fairly well.

That was apparently not the case, as he had been repeatedly made aware of.

Her words were rather bland on their own, but her tone. Her tone held the slightest hint of something warm, something of... excitement.

And it was clear that Yuzu caught this, as well.

She let Mei continue her work for a few seconds before she shifted closer and rested her head on the younger girl's shoulder.

"Where would you like to go?" Yuzu questioned. She introduced the topic carefully. (Perhaps she was aware that all of her talking was just prolonging the amount of time they had to spend in the office.)

"I don't mind."

 _"Meeeeeeeeei,"_ Yuzu whined.

"Anywhere is fine, Yuzu."

"But I want to do something you would enjoy!" She pulled on the sleeve of Mei's uniform, and the younger girl sighed as her pen smudged across the page.

"I would enjoy anything you picked out," Mei attempted to placate as she reached for a small container of white-out within one of the desk's drawers.

"How do you know that? What if I pick out something really boring?" Yuzu asked. Her tone was a little sheepish as she peered down at the ugly black smear across the paper.

"...I will be with you, will I not?"

There was a hilt of silence in their conversation, and the Chairman's attention drifted to Yuzu, just in time to see her sputter and bury her face in her hands and the side of Mei's shoulder.

"O-Of course, but I would really like to do something that you would like to do, Mei!"

Mei closed the bottle of white-out and returned it inside the drawer.

"Crepes."

"Crepes?" Yuzu repeated.

"Yes. Crepes."

Yuzu smiled. "Okay. But we have to get different flavors!"

Mei prodded the form with her finger, testing to see if the white-out were still wet. "Why?" Her finger came off dry, so she reached for her pen and signed her name across the bottom of the paper.

"So we can share!"

Mei gave a small hum in response, just as she flipped her current document over into the completed stack. She pulled a new sheet in front of herself and then reached across the desk, hand finding the frame she had set face down earlier before—

"Wait."

Yuzu's hand gripped Mei's wrist, just enough to stop her. There was a gentle dusting of pink to her cheeks and across the bridge of her nose.

"One more?"

Mei didn't acknowledge her request with any kind of verbal affirmation, but she captured Yuzu's lips with her own, quick and chaste. When she pulled back, Yuzu leaned forward, just a hair, before realizing the kiss had ended and Mei had turned to prop the picture frame up, all as though nothing had happened.

The Chairman retracted from his spot and straightened his back. He had lost track of how much time he had spent standing there (and he was not willing to dedicate time to that quandary because it was bound to fill his stomach with a grimy, sleazy feeling).

He adjusted his tie, raised his glasses more properly atop his nose—

And then he knocked on the door and slid it open without a hint of hesitation (because, after all, this was technically his office).

Instantly, he was welcomed with an overly cheery "Hey, Gramps!" (and he couldn't help but notice that Mei did not say anything, as though she had grown accustomed to the way Yuzu greeted him and to the little nickname she had given him).

"Hello, Grandfather."

Yuzu slipped closer to his granddaughter, not for any particular reason, but just to be _closer;_ and there it was again.

That smile, that soft up-turn to his granddaughter's lips; and if he looked close enough, he could have sworn he saw something flash in her eyes, something... There was definitely something otherworldly lighting those violet irises because his granddaughter had never looked like _that_ before.

And all of it— _all_ of it—was directed at that girl, _because_ of that girl.

He wondered, if Mei knew what her face looked like at that moment, how soft it was, how gentle her features were, how glaringly _obvious_ it all betrayed that she was in love—

He jolted where he stood.

He glanced between the two, but he wasn't focusing on whatever words the blond was saying to Mei.

No, he was struck by the realization, that Mei...

Mei was in love.

His granddaughter was in love with this girl.

He already _knew_ that, but it was all at once hitting him, where the sight was right in front of him and clear as day, and it left him in nothing short of a stupor.

 _"Yuzu, please,"_ Mei whispered.

He blinked out of his daze to the sound of Mei's voice. Yuzu had dragged her into another hug.

And that, that furrow to her brows, and the downturn of her eyes to the floor: that was the most uncomfortable Mei had looked all night.

It was not because Yuzu was hugging her, no. It was because he was here to see it.

He cleared his throat.

"Mei."

Her eyes shot up to meet his.

"Yes, Grandfather?"

His eyes flickered over to Yuzu, who was staring at Mei with the most captivated look that he had ever seen a person let so willingly consume their features.

And then his attention fell back to Mei, whose eyes held a bout of apprehension and uncertainty, two things out of... out of an unknown number of emotions that he knew were caused by him. Him and her fear that she, that _this,_ was a disappointment to him.

He knew the very last thing she wished was to bring shame onto the Aihara name—yet she could not very well relinquish this _girl,_ this... abundantly integral source of happiness and love.

So what should happen, if her love for Yuzu did just that?

He sighed, and something rattled around in his chest, something mucus-like and sickly. The cooling weather certainly wasn't helping his already waning state.

"Your work has been greatly appreciated." Already, there was a clear expression of shock morphing his granddaughter's face. "You should leave for the night."

Her eyes widened a fraction of an inch. The pause between his words and Mei's reply stretched just beyond that comfortable threshold, and Mei knew she had to say something, but... What could she say to words that she had never anticipated hearing?

"It is no trouble, Grandfather. There is not much work left to be completed."

Her voice was a strange mix of things. Shock, which was already playing with her features, along with some sense of relief, just as she stopped struggling altogether against Yuzu's affection (maybe even happiness in that she did not have to fight against it while he was in the same room).

And just... _perhaps_ it was because that girl was smiling up at him, but the Chairman could very well feel the corners of his own mouth pull up.

He coughed, distilling any chance of that expression taking hold of his lips.

"Nonsense, I will finish the rest. It is far too late for you to remain working. You will surely miss dinner, otherwise." His tone was rigid, stern, even; but it didn't match his words.

Yuzu gasped, and he fought the entirely foreign inclination to laugh at how overtly comical the whole thing was.

"I told you!" Yuzu exclaimed.

Mei merely sighed, but no longer was her face so tense. If anything, he swore that the faintest ghost of a smile was puling at her lips once more, as small as it was this time.

When the two girls departed after a handful of customary thanks and farewells, Yuzu leading his granddaughter out hand-in-hand, he thought, that if Mei were happy, then he... Well, he...

He couldn't yet control the rise to his blood pressure at the sight of those kisses and hugs. And he couldn't help the clench to his chest, the _fear_ that this was not the best for Mei.

But he had already gone and proven to himself how entirely mistaken he was about that, hadn't he? He had already provided that "not the best" for Mei, in the form of not one, but two failed arranged marriages. It was because of that... because of _Yuzu_ that his granddaughter was laughing and smiling and above all else _happy._

He plopped down into the chair with little grace and heaved a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. He eyed the stack of papers with an air of exhaustion before drawing the first sheet to himself.

He hadn't once considered that Mei was _not_ happy, but the thought was jarring—because under that stoic, leadership figure of a man was a grandfather. And as Mei's grandfather, he should want nothing more than for his granddaughter to be happy.

He had obviously failed at seeing what did and what did not make Mei happy.

And clearly, Yuzu made her happy.

Far happier than he could recall his granddaughter ever being.

And if Mei were happy, then, well, he should be nothing but happy for her.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Thanks for checking out the second chapter!

I like to respond to all of the comments/reviews I get, but I can't when they are "guests." So I want to say thank you here for taking the time to leave me such sweet words! I'm happy you guys are enjoying the story. :)

(Also, all of the titles are taken from songs, so I can't take credit for any of them, lmbo.)


	3. Small Note

Hello! I apologize, but this is not a new chapter. I have gotten some somewhat unkind feedback on FFnet, so I will not be posting on here any longer. I will continue to post my fics on AO3. I apologize if this is an inconvenience for anyone. Please feel free to PM me with any questions.

Thank you. :)


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